A Swiss hostage has escaped from Abu Sayyaf extremists after more than two years of jungle captivity in the southern Philippines, officials have said.

Security forces tried to disrupt plots by al Qaida-linked militants to stage attacks but failed to track them, setting off an alarm that influenced a decision to postpone a pair of Asian summits, officials said today.

Helicopter gunships have fired rockets and troops bombed a suspected Muslim guerrilla camp killing at least 20 rebels in the Philippines.

US military advisors are to provide training to Philippine soldiers fighting the Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrilla movement in the south of their country.

Deadly street battles erupted in a southern Philippines town today as a self-styled ‘‘suicide squad’’ of Muslim extremists invaded a hospital and church, seizing patients, doctors and a priest.